


Dr. Rush Had a Great Fall

by SemperVenice



Category: Stargate Universe
Genre: Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Rush has had better days, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:42:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29257659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SemperVenice/pseuds/SemperVenice
Summary: Ignoring all other duties, Rush explores the uninhabited part of the ship and falls into some trouble.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Dr. Rush Had a Great Fall

_“Eli to Dr. Rush, can you please come to the mess hall?”_

Crackling through the radio, Eli sounded exasperated “ _Has anyone seen Rush? The briefing started 20 minutes ago”_

“ _Colonel Young to Dr. Rush, please respond_ ”

Glancing briefly at the radio, Rush huffed and continued his work at the console. With Destiny’s power banks topped off at the last star, he could finally begin his work charting out unexplored parts of the ship and bringing other systems online. It had taken Rush weeks to explore this section of the ship on his own and slightly longer to find an accessible console.

This console was tucked in a small windowed alcove to the side of one corridor, similar to those Young and Rush discovered on the seed ship. Outside the window, the galaxy passed by in FTL, lights flickering off the small access panel on the floor in front of the console. Upon further investigation, Rush had discovered the access panel contained a rung ladder leading down into a small mechanical room below. The standalone mechanical room for this lone console intrigued Rush, tempting him with the mystery of the console’s purpose. What system would require its own separate mechanical room?

It took some finagling to turn the console on, the screen flickering slightly as if it had a bad power connection. Data streamed across the screen, the system prompts appeared on the screen, and Rush hunched closer, quickly taking it all in.

_Well, that’s inter--_

“ _Colonel Young to Dr. Rush , where the hell are you?”_

Rush rolled his eyes, grabbed the radio and switched it off. _I honestly don't feel like playing this game with you today Colonel. There are far more fascinating things at hand._ His attention went back to the console screen.

The screen flickered again, before going dead. From the access panel below, Rush heard the fizzle of a fuse. Sighing, Rush grabbed his small toolkit and opened the access panel. The ladder descended some 4 meters down into the mechanical room. Hefting the toolkit onto his shoulder, Rush descended below.

Until the ladder rung under his foot gave way, sending him plummeting down before Rush could even think to catch himself. His head banged against another rung on the way down and he tasted blood. Twisting as he fell, nothing prepared him for the painful impact, landing on his left shoulder with a distressing CRACK. His head bounced off the floor at the violent stop and the world went dark.

* * *

  
An agonizing throbbing brought Rush back to consciousness. Groaning, he slowly took stock of his surroundings, squinting through the pain in his head. He had landed on his side, the pain in his shoulder and side nearly left him breathless. Shifting carefully to his back, the world swam again. Above him, the broken ladder rung that proved his undoing dangled precariously. _Fucking ladder._ The access panel opening seemed miles away.

Sitting up, something shifted in his shoulder and side, nearly plunging him into darkness once again. Nausea rose. Rush clutched his left shoulder, panting through the bile bubbling at the back of his throat. _Fuck!_ Swallow, then one shuddering breath in, a painful twinge, one shuddering breath out. Another in, twinge, and another out. Blood trickled down his neck from his head, sending a slight shiver down his spine.

One hand still grasping his injured ( _Probably broken,_ his mind supplied) shoulder, Rush glanced up at the access panel again. The ladder which had seemed so innocuous when he first started his descent, now loomed menacingly. _How am I going to make it back up that?!_

* * *

Using the ladder to pull himself upright was sheer agony. His broken ribs grated together with his movements and Rush grit his teeth against the pain and nausea.Things shifted, broken bones ground together and pain flared. Tilting his head up, a groan escaped him. The only way out loomed above - so far away. Just the thought of climbing all the way up caused nausea to rise again. If only he could call for help.

The radio, the radio that he could use to call for help… was still up at the console, entirely out of his reach. There were no other options. No one would be coming for him - he’s off in an unexplored section of the ship. Few would worry about his absence, most likely chalking it up to “Rush being Rush”.

 _How long would it take for them to really worry where I was?_ He wondered morbidly, moving his feet to stand on the ladder’s lowest rung. _As soon as something goes wrong, they’d decide to hunt me down. That’s the only time I’m wanted._

Steeling himself with a breath, Rush stepped onto the ladder and slowly raised his good arm to grasp the rung just above his head. The task ahead seemed monumental - a careful step up to the next rung, then painfully pulling himself up. An agonizing monotony of movement. Pain, a step up, pain again, a shuddering breath and then raising his arm to grasp the next rung. Over and over.

Sweat broke out on his brow, but Rush could scarcely distinguish it from the blood already rolling down his face. Pausing, he glanced down and groaned, shivering slightly as he clung to the ladder. All this effort and he had barely made it halfway up the ladder. _Dammit._

The ache in his shoulder and chest were constant, but even as Rush pushed through the physical agony, the thought that he hadn’t discovered the purpose of the mechanical room and the alcove above caused his teeth to grit even harder. What did these areas control? Once he climbs to the top, would he be able to make it back to the inhabited parts of the ship in his condition? Calling for help would bring the frantic energy of the science team down upon Rush’s new discovery, leaving no time to carefully piece out the puzzle that lay before him. Their grubby (albeit somewhat capable) hands would be all over it in an instant. Brody would pull apart the consoles to see how they work, Eli and Park would chatter incessantly over the discovery, pondering the meaning of it all, and Volker… well better _not_ to think of Volker.

Rush glanced down at his progress. Over halfway up the ladder. He paused, clinging precariously to the ladder rungs with his uninjured arm and panting painfully. _Only a few more steps_ , he told himself. Resuming the tortuous rhythm - pain, a step up, pain again, a shuddering breath, raising his arm and grasping the next rung - Rush pushed onward, losing himself in the movements.

Reaching up for the next rung, his fingers met open air instead. Snapping back to attention, Rush looked up. _Made it!_ He huffed, dropping his forehead against a ladder rung, relief energizing his injured body. Another step up, his usable hand shakily grasping at the ledge to pull himself up and partially over the ledge. His renewed strength gave out halfway through pulling himself over the ledge and sharp pain erupted as his injured arm and chest crashed to the floor. Nausea overtook him, spewing his stomach contents on the ground, and then for a moment the world blinked out.

* * *

The sharp stabbing sensation in his chest brought Rush back to his senses. His left shoulder and chest both screamed their agony at him, sharpening his awareness. Still sprawled out, collapsed half over the ledge with his legs hanging somewhat limply, and a fresh pile of sick next to his face, Rush groaned. Using his good arm to push himself up and steadying his feet on the top ladder rung, he finally pulled himself completely over the ledge before collapsing again to the floor. Coughing and wincing painfully, Rush spotted the console and his radio. Just the way he left them, artifacts leftover from his earlier explorations.

 _Probably not going to be able to make it back all by myself. If I could just make it a few corridors away, that could buy me more time to come back and really delve into the mysteries here_. Rush shook his head. _Be reasonable, you can barely get up as it is._

It took a few tries to muster the strength needed to actually reach the radio. After fall and his arduous journey back up the ladder with his broken shoulder and ribs, Rush’s energy reserves were almost completely spent. The pain still threatened to blacken his world with every shuddering breath. When his fingertips grasped the radio itself, he couldn’t help but give a sob of relief. He switched it on.

“Rush to ...anyone... who can fucking hear this” The sharpness in his chest caused stange hitches in his speech.

  
“ _Oh now you have something to say. Thanks sooo much for showing up at the briefing by the way. Oh, remember the briefing? The one you were supposed to attend hours ago!”_

Eli seemed intent on giving him hell for missing one damn briefing. For someone that had dropped out of university and existed solely for video games and sweet snacks, the boy had surprisingly strong feelings about attendance and punctuality.

 _“Rush, where the hell have you been?!”_ The colonel’s voice shot back, irritation evident.

 _Oh good, nothing has changed there_ , Rush huffed to himself. Gripping the radio, he pressed the button again. “Colonel… I seem… to find myself… in a bit of troub--” A particularly sharp stab choked off his words and the coughing fit that ensued knifed him at every inhalation.

“ _Rush?_ ” Eli’s voice dropped it’s sarcasm, conveying concern in that one phrase.

“I need help…”

“ _Where are you? What happened?”_ Even the colonel’s gruff tone softened somewhat.

Depressing the button on the radio again, Rush explained his situation and rough whereabouts, his speech hitching each time pain knifed through his chest.

“ _A team will be down to find you. Not going to lie, genius, but if you’re as far in the uninhabited zone as it sounds it might take them a while to find you.”_

“ ‘s fine.” A pause for another hitched breath. “Just follow my directions…Rush out.” His grip on the radio finally seemed to weaken and it clunked to the floor next to him. Focusing on his breathing, Rush reevaluated his physical status.

Concussion - _Aye, got that. Dizzy. Nauseous when I move too quickly._

Left shoulder - _Definitely broken and painful as fuck._

Ribs - _Cracked. No blood when I cough so no punctured lung. Still feels like someone stabbing me every time I bloody breath though._

Time seemed to creep by as Rush lay there breathing. In his head, the colonel’s word replayed “ _might take them a while to find you_ ”. As far as he was aware none of the crew had ever explored this part of the ship. Even with his directions, they may find it difficult to navigate this deeply into the ship. 

Half of him was content to wait here until the search team did, but that nagging voice inside him argued otherwise. _You could make it down the corridor. Maybe even two corridors. The closer you get to the inhabited part of the ship, the sooner they’ll find you and the less likely they’ll immediately find this console area. Once you’re recovered you can come back and discover what it does._

That sounded pretty appealing actually. Rush grabbed the radio and forced himself to his feet. Setting himself into that familiar pain-filled rhythm - pain, step, pain again, step, hitched breath - he began down the corridor, using the wall to guide him. Time blurred by. Amazingly, Rush made it through three corridors before his head swam viciously and his legs gave out. Sliding down the wall on his uninjured shoulder helped control his descent to the floor. The indomitable will that drove him this far had finally given in to his body’s demands. He could go no further.

Before long, his ears picked up faint footsteps and soon the search team stepped into his view with Greer leading the way.

Kneeling down beside the injured man, Greer gave him a once-over before sitting back on his heels. “What in the hell did you get yourself into Doc?”

Ever the smart ass, Rush smirked. “A little o’ this and a little o’ that”.

Greer shook his head, chuckling. “Okay, Dora the Explorer. Let’s get you up and to the infirmary”.

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd. This is my 1st ever work on AO3 and the 1st thing I've ever written in the SGU fandom. I've lurked for awhile and wanted to join in the fun, but didn't really know how... 
> 
> So in all honesty... I started this fic way back in October and I meant to finish it in time for Whumptober but with work (public health is an all-hands-on-deck situation right now) it just didn't happen. So I figured I needed to hammer it out and actually post it now or I would be procrastinating with it forever. I will go back and edit it more later. I also hope to add another chapter.


End file.
